Physics and Matter News - February 2008 Archives
For the first time, researchers at North Carolina State University have demonstrated that microscopic "two-faced" spheres whose halves are physically or chemically different - so-called Janus particles - will move like stealthy submarines when an alternating electrical field is applied to liquid surrounding the particles.
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 | A race is on in Case Western Reserve University's physics department and around the world to be the first research group to capture signals from WIMPs (weakly interactive massive particles)-the substance that comprises dark matter. ...> Full Article |
The mystery has dogged scientists for 50 years about why carbon-14 dating works. And now, physicist Ruprecht Machleidt and a team of researchers have helped close a gap in the theory of carbon dating that has, until now, gone unsolved.
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 | A new electron microscope recently installed in Cornell's Duffield Hall is enabling scientists for the first time to form images that uniquely identify individual atoms in a crystal and see how those atoms bond to one another. And in living color. ...> Full Article |
 | The structure and behavior of one of the most common proteins in our bodies has been resolved at a level of detail never before seen ...> Full Article |
Ranger, the most powerful supercomputing system in the world and one in which Arizona State University researchers played a key role in its development and operation, was dedicated Feb. 22 in a ceremony at the University of Texas-Austin. The $59 million computer project is led by UT-Austin and funded through the National Science Foundation (NSF).
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 | Scientists working on the COUPP experiment at the Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory have announced a new development in the quest to observe dark matter. The Chicagoland Observatory for Underground Particle Physics experiment tightened constraints on the "spin-dependent" properties of WIMPS, weakly interacting massive particles that are candidates for dark matter. Their results, combined with the findings of other dark matter searches, contradict the claims for the observation of such particles by the Dark Matter experiment (DAMA) in Italy and further restrict the hunting ground for physicists to track their dark matter quarry. ...> Full Article |
Neutron scientists are tackling the challenge of cosmic radiation and its damaging effect on sensitive microchips in the aviation industry in the drive to develop more robust electronic equipment. Accelerated testing of microelectronic components at the Science and Technology Facilities Council's (STFC) world leading ISIS neutron research centre replicates the effect of thousands of hours of flying time in just a few minutes.
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 | Standard microscopy and visible light imaging techniques cannot peer into the dark and murky centers of dense-liquid jets, which has hindered scientists in their quest for a full understanding of liquid breakup in devices such as automobile fuel injectors. ...> Full Article |
One of the great theoretical challenges facing physicists is understanding how the tiniest elementary particles give rise to most of the mass in the visible universe.
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 | A team of Purdue University researchers and students built a piece of one of the world's most powerful cameras that will provide information about the universe and physical laws that govern existence. ...> Full Article |
 | If you could hold a giant magnifying glass in space and focus all the sunlight shining toward Earth onto one grain of sand, that concentrated ray would approach the intensity of a new laser beam made in a University of Michigan laboratory. ...> Full Article |
 | A next-generation atomic clock developed by researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado at Boulder has been shown to be accurate to within one second over 200 million years, surpassing the accuracy of the current U.S. time standard atomic clock more than two-fold. ...> Full Article |
 | A better understanding of material could bring 'endless applications' ...> Full Article |
 | Forty years ago, mathematician Mark Kac asked the theoretical question, "Can one hear the shape of a drum?" ...> Full Article |
Simultaneous optical and electronic measurements on same molecule
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 | Imagine trying to catch up to something moving close to the speed of light - the fastest anything can move - and sending ahead information in time to make mid-path flight corrections. Impossible? Not quite. Physicists at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), a particle accelerator at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, have achieved this tricky task - and the results may save the Lab money and time in their quest to understand the inner workings of the early universe. ...> Full Article |
A new generation of sensors for detecting explosives and poisons could be developed following new research into a type of radiation known as T-rays
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If humans had see-through skin like a jellyfish, spotting disease like cancer would be a snap: Just look, and see a tumor form or grow.
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 | Like X-rays let doctors see the bones beneath our skin, "T-rays" could let art historians see murals hidden beneath coats of plaster or paint in centuries-old buildings, University of Michigan engineering researchers say. ...> Full Article |
A new laser under development at the Science and Technology Facilities Council's (STFC) Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire will enable UK bio scientists to monitor biological processes at a millionth of a millionth of a second.
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For Kansas State University physics professor Uwe Thumm, confirmation of a theory about the behavior of small molecules became music to his ears -- literally. He and colleagues in Heidelberg, Germany, have shown how a hydrogen molecule responds to laser pulses by using the changing musical chord created by the molecule's vibrational motion.
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A discovery by scientists at the Carnegie Institution has opened the door to a new generation of piezoelectric materials that can convert mechanical strain into electricity and vice versa, potentially cutting costs and boosting performance in myriad applications ranging from medical diagnostics to green energy technologies.
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New species of ancient crocodile discovered
Kitchen gadget inspires scientist to make more effective plastic electronics
Making memories last
Ferroelectric switching discovered for first time in soft biological tissue
Forensic research extends detection of cyanide poisoning
The wild early lives of today's most massive galaxies
What really happened prior to 'Snowball Earth'?
Shakespeare's skill 'more in grammar than in words'
Detailed picture of how myoV 'walks' along actin tracks
Need muscle for a tough spot? Turn to fat stem cells
Earth's energy budget remained out of balance despite unusually low solar activity
Pictures of food create feelings of hunger
Mighty mesh
Sweeten up your profits with the right hybrid
Patterns of antibiotic-resistant bacteria found in Galapagos reptiles
Bilayer graphene works as an insulator
Patterns of chromosome abnormality: The key to cancer?
Advantages of living in the dark: The multiple evolution events of 'blind' cavefish
Snakes improve search-and-rescue robots
Enhancing cognition in older adults also changes personality
Magnetic actuation enables nanoscale thermal analysis
A new artificial intelligence technique to speed the planning of tasks when resources are limited
'Tiger mothers' should tame parenting approach
Film coatings made from whey
Growing US violent extremism by the numbers
If a fat tax is coming, here's how to make it efficient, effective
Bobsled runs -- fast and yet safe
Fruit fly intestine may hold secret to the fountain of youth
Bright lights of purity
How seawater could corrode nuclear fuel
Does antimatter weigh more, less or the same as matter?
Scientists create first atomic X-ray laser
Jupiter's 'Trojans' on an atomic scale
World's longest superconductor cable